radio harness
04-04-2009, 04:32 AM
#1
JK Enthusiast
Thread Starter
radio harness
For those of you who have installed an aftermarket radio, is the harness install difficult? Summer is coming and Im planning on upgrading my system and on the fence with doing it myself or having a shop do it. Do the harnesses come with instructions that are easy to follow or do you need to have some audio background to tackle the install? Crutchfield has been a real help to me with their "learn" section and this project appears to be one I could tackle with patience and time. The following is what I want to do:
new radio
new speakers and amp to drive them
bazooka for bass
shouldnt be too difficult right? I would be saving a lot of money doing it myself.
Thanks
new radio
new speakers and amp to drive them
bazooka for bass
shouldnt be too difficult right? I would be saving a lot of money doing it myself.
Thanks
04-04-2009, 06:18 AM
#2
JK Super Freak
Difficulty is a relative term. Have you ever installed a H/U? The harnesses come with instructions. SOme of them even come with the wire definitions printed on the color coded wires. Sort of triple instructions.
If so, you can definitely do this. Easily. You will look back on everything you have read on this forum and think to yourself, "Thaaaaaat's what they were talking about!"
If you have never installed a H/U you can still do it. Do you know basic wire splicing? Like most things the first time will take the longest. After that it's all down hill.
If so, you can definitely do this. Easily. You will look back on everything you have read on this forum and think to yourself, "Thaaaaaat's what they were talking about!"
If you have never installed a H/U you can still do it. Do you know basic wire splicing? Like most things the first time will take the longest. After that it's all down hill.
04-04-2009, 09:37 AM
#3
JK Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Thanks vernz. Yes, Im okay with wire splicing and such. My main concern was with instructions and how helpful they are. I dont have a background in car audio so knowing which wires are which is what Im worried about. After that, running the wiring and soldering/splicing etc should be fine.
04-06-2009, 03:42 PM
#4
JK Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Difficulty is a relative term. Have you ever installed a H/U? The harnesses come with instructions. SOme of them even come with the wire definitions printed on the color coded wires. Sort of triple instructions.
If so, you can definitely do this. Easily. You will look back on everything you have read on this forum and think to yourself, "Thaaaaaat's what they were talking about!"
If you have never installed a H/U you can still do it. Do you know basic wire splicing? Like most things the first time will take the longest. After that it's all down hill.
If so, you can definitely do this. Easily. You will look back on everything you have read on this forum and think to yourself, "Thaaaaaat's what they were talking about!"
If you have never installed a H/U you can still do it. Do you know basic wire splicing? Like most things the first time will take the longest. After that it's all down hill.
By switching out the head unit and using s new amp, Im pretty much ditching the stock amp that came with the jeep. Is it explained in the harness instructions how to hook up a new amp? From what I have read, the stock amp is tied into this whole canbus crap. So is it just as simple as disconnecting the amp and wiring the new one? Have not seen any writeups here on this. Again, splicing wires is not the problem....identifying them and knowing what connects where is the issue.
04-06-2009, 05:17 PM
#5
JK Super Freak
Not explained in the instructions. Since you are replacing the entire system you just won't use any speaker wire out of the aftermarket H/U. Just wrap them in electrical tape and leave them.
From the H/U the harness you receive (Metra XSVI-6522 is what I used) will connect the H/U to the Jeep. This will provide power, dimmer for lights, switched ignition, etc. Out of the H/U separately will be some RCA connectors. Also called Preamp Outputs. You have to get a cable to connect the channels to the amp. You probably want 5 or 6 channel RCA cable. These would correspond to Front Left & Right, Rear Left and Right and Sub. Sometime the sub channel of an amp automatically bridges two channels into one channel, hence the 5th or 6th channel.
In addition to the RCAs you will need power wire from the battery ($ AWG or 8 AWG) and a remote turn on wire. That can be 20 AWG or so. It is only a signal from the H/U telling the amp to energize or deenergize.
You can get all of this stuff as an Amp Kit. They include power, ground, remote turn on, RCAs and most time a spool of speaker wire. The kit will have an entire system diagram.
From the H/U the harness you receive (Metra XSVI-6522 is what I used) will connect the H/U to the Jeep. This will provide power, dimmer for lights, switched ignition, etc. Out of the H/U separately will be some RCA connectors. Also called Preamp Outputs. You have to get a cable to connect the channels to the amp. You probably want 5 or 6 channel RCA cable. These would correspond to Front Left & Right, Rear Left and Right and Sub. Sometime the sub channel of an amp automatically bridges two channels into one channel, hence the 5th or 6th channel.
In addition to the RCAs you will need power wire from the battery ($ AWG or 8 AWG) and a remote turn on wire. That can be 20 AWG or so. It is only a signal from the H/U telling the amp to energize or deenergize.
You can get all of this stuff as an Amp Kit. They include power, ground, remote turn on, RCAs and most time a spool of speaker wire. The kit will have an entire system diagram.
04-06-2009, 08:39 PM
#6
JK Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Not explained in the instructions. Since you are replacing the entire system you just won't use any speaker wire out of the aftermarket H/U. Just wrap them in electrical tape and leave them.
From the H/U the harness you receive (Metra XSVI-6522 is what I used) will connect the H/U to the Jeep. This will provide power, dimmer for lights, switched ignition, etc. Out of the H/U separately will be some RCA connectors. Also called Preamp Outputs. You have to get a cable to connect the channels to the amp. You probably want 5 or 6 channel RCA cable. These would correspond to Front Left & Right, Rear Left and Right and Sub. Sometime the sub channel of an amp automatically bridges two channels into one channel, hence the 5th or 6th channel.
In addition to the RCAs you will need power wire from the battery ($ AWG or 8 AWG) and a remote turn on wire. That can be 20 AWG or so. It is only a signal from the H/U telling the amp to energize or deenergize.
You can get all of this stuff as an Amp Kit. They include power, ground, remote turn on, RCAs and most time a spool of speaker wire. The kit will have an entire system diagram.
From the H/U the harness you receive (Metra XSVI-6522 is what I used) will connect the H/U to the Jeep. This will provide power, dimmer for lights, switched ignition, etc. Out of the H/U separately will be some RCA connectors. Also called Preamp Outputs. You have to get a cable to connect the channels to the amp. You probably want 5 or 6 channel RCA cable. These would correspond to Front Left & Right, Rear Left and Right and Sub. Sometime the sub channel of an amp automatically bridges two channels into one channel, hence the 5th or 6th channel.
In addition to the RCAs you will need power wire from the battery ($ AWG or 8 AWG) and a remote turn on wire. That can be 20 AWG or so. It is only a signal from the H/U telling the amp to energize or deenergize.
You can get all of this stuff as an Amp Kit. They include power, ground, remote turn on, RCAs and most time a spool of speaker wire. The kit will have an entire system diagram.